Iraqi central bank says reserves at USD50 billion: governor

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Iraq’s international currency reserves stand at USD50 billion, the governor of its central bank has been quoted saying on Wednesday.

Semi-official al-Sabaah newspaper quoted central bank governor Ali al-Allaq saying that “the central bank’s reserve has now exceeded USD50 billion dollar”. He noted that “that rate remains within the normal limits compared to the local currency and based on the internationally-recognized International Monetary Fund’s standards”.

According to Allaq, “the central bank continues to mint local currency due to its deterioration, so as to maintain the balance between the availability of the local currency and the reserve”.

Allaq dismissed reports about wide-scale currency counterfeiting, saying that the scale of that forgery does not exceed six bills for every one million, and assuring that the bank possesses advanced mechanisms to detect those violations.

Iraq’s oil-reliant economy has been severely damaged by the war against Islamic State militants that brought much damage to infrastructure and security.